Christmas puddings are all about balance. There needs to be the right amount of candied fruit, juicy raisins or sultanas, nuts and booze. We tried out the leading varieties from budget stores, supermarkets and high-end shops to find this year's festive favourite.

The Aldi Specially Selected 18 Month Matured Christmas Pudding is good for its price and large enough to feed a family of four. It’s a traditional boozy, spicy, fruity pudding, made with vine fruits, glacé cherries, candied peel, almonds, walnuts, pecans, spices, brandy, sherry, and cognac and it’s been matured for 18 months. 

The Tesco Finest 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding with Courvoisier Cognac has a nice hit of booze, infused with a heady mix of cider, cognac, sherry, brandy and port. There are also plenty of nuts, which gives a nice contrasting texture to the soft pudding. It wasn’t our taste testers' top choice, but it’s decent enough.

Give Christmas dinner the grand finale it deserves with this glitzy decorative pudding. The Aldi Specially Selected Golden Topped Christmas Pudding With Edible Gold Glitter is covered with candied orange slices, and topped with blonde glacé cherries and a smattering of gold dust. The pudding has a nutty texture, but some of our taste testers found it too chewy. It’s a good size if you’re hosting a group of people.

A tempting-looking pudding with good variation in fruit. From the outside you can see all the sultanas, raisins, currants and fruit peel. Inside it's sweet, boozy and full of nuts. And it’s a lot less heavy than other puddings we tried.

This is quite a nice size pudding for a family and it looks impressive covered in gold glitter. It's also lighter than a traditional pudding. Its orange scent, candied orange slices, sultanas and almonds make it super-festive.

The Booths 18 Month Matured Brandy, Port & Walnut Christmas Pudding is a standout contender thanks to its completely spherical shape. Its pretty presentation and packaging would make it a great gift. The pudding itself is moist and on the cakey side. It’s nicely spiced, full of lots of juicy fruits including apricots, and there’s marzipan and citrus notes too.

The Waitrose 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding is boozy and the cognac shines through. It’s also a little lighter than some of the other puddings we tried. However, despite its fruity scent, the fruit was a little dry and we would have liked a bit more variation. Sadly, it also broke apart when turned out.

The M&S 12 Month Matured Vintage Christmas Pudding comes in a ceramic bowl, which is a nice touch. This is a traditional-flavoured pudding with a spicy and boozy aroma. It’s one of the lighter puddings we tried, but it’s also chewy. More plump fruit would solve this and more variation in the fruits wouldn’t go amiss either.

One of the most nut-filled puddings we tried, Harvey Nicks' Traditional Christmas Pudding is a good choice if you like almonds and pecans. It’s quite well-balanced in terms of fruit and nut. It comes in three sizes and the mini 110g pudding would make a lovely stocking filler.

While Fortnum & Mason’s has many puddings on offer this year, the St James Christmas Pudding is their classic option. It comes in festive packaging and the pudding has a smooth round shape, compared to other messier ones. It’s also Christmas cake-like in texture and best served with a hearty portion of custard.

One of the heavier puddings we tried, a little goes a long way with the Harrods Classic Christmas Pudding. It’s seriously sweet, rich and boozy. There are lots of nuts and the texture is quite fudge-like.

Selfridges & Co Artisan Christmas Pudding is packaged nicely and makes a lavish gift. It’s also a top pudding: boozy, soft, cakey and full of juicy fruit. Unfortunately, the pudding broke in half when we turned it out, so make sure it’s fully released with a knife first.

You read it correctly. Branston Pickle has released a savoury cheese and pickle Christmas pudding and it actually tastes good. It has a sweet and tangy pickle glaze, a crunchy cheddar and breadcrumb body, and the centre hides a stringy mozzarella ball. The Branston Pickle Christmas pudding is available from east London baker Lily Vanilli (in-store only) and has to be a festive essential for cheese-lovers.

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you will love the M&S Festive Prosecco & Orange Topped Christmas Pudding. It's a seriously moist, gooey, sticky and sugary contender. It has a cakey texture that’s reminiscent of jam sponge and it’s nicely presented with candied orange slices and a cranberry and prosecco sauce. The sauce is sweet and zingy like prosecco, although half of the quantity used would have been enough.

A budget pudding with a richness and depth of flavour to rival the more expensive ones, the ASDA Extra Special 9 Month Matured Luxury Christmas Pudding is our overall winner for 2018. It’s moist and packed with fruits and nuts. A pleasing orange flavour and almonds come through well, but we would like there to be a few more glacé cherries. It’s boozy too, enriched with cognac, rum and sherry.

Now discover our favourite mince pies of Christmas 2018